ITMO

Christophe Tzourio Professor of Epidemiology

Course and current status

Christophe Tzourio, MD, PhD, has been trained in clinical neurology and epidemiology. He served as chief resident of Neurology at Lariboisière Hospital. He joined INSERM in 1994 as Senior Researcher, was promoted to Director of Research in 2000 and to First Class Director of Research in 2007. He is currently Professor of epidemiology at the University of Bordeaux.

In 2005, he became director of a new INSERM Research Unit U708, which includes thirty people, including five full-time researchers. This unit has been given the highest possible performance grade (A+) by the Agency for the Evaluation of Research in 2008. Since its inception, the unit has recruited three Directors of Research and is the host unit for two prestigious Chairs of Excellence awarded by the ANR. This unit has recently moved to Bordeaux. In September 2013, Pr Tzourio became director of the Research Center in Epidemiology and Biostatistics U897 in Bordeaux which includes more than 270 staff members.

Christophe Tzourio has published about 250 original papers in international peer-reviewed journals, which have been cited >12,000 times. He is ranked in the top 1% of cited scientists by the ISI Web of Science in both clinical medicine and neurosciences.

Pr. Tzourio has important responsibilities in the evaluation and development of research policies in France. He has been Director of the Department of Research in Public Health at INSERM and has served in the Scientific Committee 'Public Health' and in the Scientific Advisory Board of INSERM. He also participated in several scientific councils and steering committees in public and private entities (Foundation for Medical Research, Institut National de Veille Sanitaire, Ministry of Health, etc). He is a regular reviewer for international grant applications as well as for major international journals.

Scientific summary

Christophe Tzourio is currently co-PI of the 3C study, a large population-based cohort study which aims at studying the relationships between vascular factors and the risk of dementia. He is also co-PI of the LEOPOLD study, a multicenter intervention study on the effect of lowering blood pressure on the development of covert vascular brain injuries (white matter lesions and silent infarcts).

In the framework of the prestigious call for "Investments for future", Pr Tzourio has been awarded funding for setting up a large cohort on students' health, the i-Share (internet based students' health research enterprise) project. More than 5000 students have already been enrolled in this study which will provide a better assesment of students' health and will allow to explore some specific questions like brain maturation or the interplay between psychological traits and disorders and brain structures.